The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo marked the first anniversary of a deadly shooting attack at its Paris offices with a cover that is characteristically provocative.

Wednesday's issue of the magazine depicts a cartoon image of God carrying a Kalashnikov automatic rifle with a caption that reads, "One year on: the killer is still at large."

Charlie Hebdo magazine marks the first anniversary of a deadly assault on its offices with a special edition. Its cover headline says: ‘The assassin still at large.’

The Vatican has already criticized the cover, saying it uses God to justify violence, calling the magazine cover "genuine blasphemy." The Vatican published its comments in its own paper, the Osservatore Romano.

Eight Charlie Hebdo staffers were among a dozen people gunned down at the magazine's offices on January 7 last year in a three-day series of attacks that ended up taking a total of 17 lives.

The attacks, which also targeted a Jewish grocery story, were claimed by al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

The offices of the publication were also firebombed in 2011. Earlier, it drew international attention for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2006.